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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Do It!! Or Else...

I'm scared to know what Armen will do if I stop!!

Every time I do a NUTRITION CHECK IN with a client at our BOX one of the first questions I ask the athlete is:

What do you need help/advice with? People fall within 3 categories of help. -Education: I don't know what to eat? Recipes? Ideas? Alternatives? Planning? -Motivation: I'm just not motivated to eat better? I have no time? I hate cooking? I think I eat really well. -Accountability: I am a yo-yo diet'er. Regular food log check-in's. Can someone just YELL at me?!?!I find that half of the people fall into the education section where they simply do not understand how solid nutrition works or they fell victim to bad information by the less principled members of the weight loss industry. There is so much misinformation out there it can be easy to get overwhelmed, follow nothing and eat whatever is convenient and tastes good.

Then there is the other half that does get it and just won't do it or don't do it. They fall into the motivation and accountability sections.

Maybe they have a problem with their GOALS?
Or maybe they have great goals but their reasons WHY they want those goals are wishy washy?

If you are one of these types of people, John Bear's "Blackmail Diet" may have a great idea on how to motivate yourself.

John Bear's book, "The Blackmail Diet," tells the story of his unusual approach to making himself lose weight. According to his autobiographical account, he set up an escrow account with his lawyer totaling $5,000. Bear then wrote up and signed documents ordering his lawyer to donate that money to the American Nazi Party if he failed to lose 70 pounds over the course of one year. The book tells the story of his efforts to keep that money out of the hands of a world-famous hate group.

Obviously this is on the extreme setup (one of which I don't suggest:-) But the takeaway of the idea can be very eye opening.

When I hear someone say, "I do pretty good with my diet", or, "I feel I eat well", is a bunch of BULL!

Why not take the idea from Bear and set up an unavoidable and unpleasant consequence so that you MUST stick to your plan to achieve your goals? This could include giving some amount of money given to the group or person of your choice, giving away a treasured possession, or even committing a socially embarrassing public act. So long as it's something you're willing to work to avoid, and you set it up so that you can't renege on the commitment, it fulfills the concept of the Blackmail Diet.

Or flip it around and instead of it be a negative consequence you could give yourself some kind of reward you have always wanted. The reward must be great enough to really commit yourself to and work for similar value of the negative consequence. Read more on this LIVESTRONG POST

If you have a goal, a serious goal. How much would it take for you to lose or gain to take a no-holds bar approach to your goal?